Introduction
Several health and medical themes are being commemorated in May 2017. This week in the National Weekly’s monthly feature Health and Wellness information is provided for our readers on four of these themes:
Physical Fitness and Sports Month
Vision Health
National Nursing Week
Arthritis Awareness
National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
It has often been reported that the various inventions of the modern world have detracted from people being more involved in taking care of their health through physical fitness.
Recently a posting on Social Media relevantly pointed out one of the greatest threat to poor health is not fatty foods, sugary drinks, or unhygienic lifestyles, but rather the chair, or in other words sitting.
The average person spends the vast majority of the typical day sitting. This include sitting around a desk or a work station at the workplace; sitting at a desk or a table in school, colleges and libraries; driving, or being driven; riding in an airplane, watching TV, reading, sitting in a barber or beauty shop, using the toilet, dining, putting a child to sleep or feeding that child, sitting in a hospital or nursing home; sitting in a waiting room, and, so on.
People spend more time sitting, attracting health issues and much less time in physical activity like simply walking. Even when some people participate in physical exercise like cycling or rowing, they are still sitting.
For people to live longer, healthier lives they should engage in more physical activity. They should exercise at least 30 minutes per day or at least 150 minutes per week.
The demands of work doesn’t make it easy for most people to engage in sports like soccer, hockey, tennis, netball, basketball, which are tremendous forms of physical activity, but it is still important that people try to include physical activity as part of the routine of their daily lives.
Ludlow Sergue, Miami physical fitness instructor and a manager of a chain of local gyms advices that regular physical fitness has the following benefits:
Improves muscular fitness, bone health and heart health in children and adults;
Lower the risk of diabetes and some type of cancers; enhances the smooth operation of the digestive system and helps overcome constipation issues. Segue says regular physical activity even enhances the effective sexual function of men, as exercise allow for the heart to pump blood readily.
What is not commonly known is that physical activity is helpful for older adults as it improves cognitive functions, and militates against memory loss and poor judgement as one ages. Physical activity also allows the body and mind to get more rest as it improves the ability to sleep longer hours.
Sergue says it is understandable some people can neither afford membership in a gym or find time to go regularly, but advices there are several other ways of being physically active. These include:
Taking a walk after dinner; walking around the work place at lunch time; walking to and fro in one’s house or apartment; jogging on the spot for 10 to 20 minutes daily, parking one’s car some distance from one’s ultimate destination so one can get in some walking; and taking stairs instead of elevators or escalators.
Sergue stressed that daily physical activity is particularly important for children, young ad older adults. He also cited that the most effective forms of daily exercise include walking, cycling, swimming and dancing.
“Physical activity shouldn’t be regarded as a hated chore we must endure. It can be fun. Regular dancing to music like soca, salsa, reggae, even in the confines of your home get the heart and muscles to work harder, and is good for one’s health,” Surgue said.
He also pointed out that working around the yard and the house including cutting the lawn, tidying the house, cooking, washing clothes by hand and ironing clothes, are useful forms of physical exercise.
He also recommends that both men and women should do regular muscle strengthening exercise like lifting weights twice per week. “Be careful not to lift weights that strain the back, or places too much strain on the muscles in the arms or legs. Physical activity is great but must be done in moderation. People just need to try to get in 150 minutes or 2 and one-half hours weekly, whether it means going to a gym, or doing some physical activity in your home, at your workplace, around our neighborhood. Just get physical. You will be live a healthier life.”
